Covid-19: Drive-in church services in US offer relief as tensions grow

It’s just before 10am on this bank holiday Sunday morning, and outside Riverside First Church of God, vehicles are beginning to snake into the car park.

The non-denominational church is one of dozens of houses of worship dotted around Fredericksburg, a historic colonial town in Virginia.

Riverside is one of many churches across the US to adapt to the coronavirus outbreak by offering a drive-in service.

The drive-in experience beloved of generations of Americans – from the heyday of the drive-in movie in the 1950s to its more recent adaptation for fast-food joints, pharmacies and even banks – has found a new relevance in the Covid-19 pandemic.

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Here at Riverside church, strict social distancing rules are in place. As cars arrive in the car park, drivers are instructed to allow an empty space between each vehicle. Drivers of vehicles parked an acceptable 2m apart are allowed to converse through open windows. Any cars parked side by side must keep their windows closed.

Before the service begins, congregants are instructed to tune their radios to the 92.9 frequency. Strains of feel-good Christian rock pipe through the cars and trucks lined up to listen to the Sunday sermon as it is broadcast to their vehicles in the car park. Many people have downloaded the Sunday bulletin from the church’s website.

The service opens with two hymns by a singer and a guitarist standing beneath a tree facing the church door, their outdoor sound system holding up remarkably well on this unseasonably blustery and overcast day.

Pastor Brian Harrell welcomes the congregants and gives some words of comfort and Christian instruction in these troubled times. He says that coronavirus has divided the country – between those who want more safety measures, to those who say it's all "government hysteria".

“Part of the problem we have today is that we weaponise our preferences, our opinions and our knowledge,” he says. “We all think we know exactly what’s going on, we all have our own opinions on it, and then the other side that doesn’t agree with us, we just sort of shoot at them.”

As he quotes scripture, he directs those with Bibles to the relevant passage.

Some wave their arms outside their car windows as they worship.

Another song elicits a chorus of beeps from the parked vehicles – the pattern of collective horn-honking a drive-in substitute for the “amens” that are typically delivered with collective gusto at American church services.

Multiple services

Riverside’s drive-in service is one of three taking place this morning at this one church alone.

The status of places of worship during the pandemic has emerged as a highly contentious issue in the US. On Friday, president Donald Trump weighed in on the matter.

In an unscheduled appearance in the White House press room, he ordered governors across the nation to reopen churches, declaring that houses of worship should be deemed "essential places that provide essential services".

Though he threatened to “override the governors” on the issue, in reality he has little authority to do so. In the US federal system, states, not the federal government, will make the rules on reopening for each district.

But while Trump’s intervention may have limitations practically, it was important politically. Less than six months out from a presidential election, Trump is highly attuned to the cultural and religious issues that resonate with large swathes of the Republican base.

“In America we need more prayer, not less,” he said.

There have been growing calls, particularly on the right, for churches to reopen for in-house services, with Fox News running regular coverage on the topic.

Several churches have brought legal actions against governors on pandemic restrictions, part of a broader cultural battle between church and state.

Such actions are despite the fact that several coronavirus clusters have been linked to church services across the country, including in Kansas, California and Pennsylvania.

Freedom of religion

Here in Virginia, a case involving a church in the east of the state gained national prominence. The pastor of the Lighthouse Fellowship Church was cited by the state for holding a service on Palm Sunday attended by 16 people.

The pastor responded with a lawsuit, claiming discrimination against the church and violation of the first amendment right to freedom of religion enshrined in the constitution.

Last month, the department of justice filed a statement supporting the pastor's action. Senior members of the Trump administration also backed attorney general William Barr's intervention in the case. "I'm truly grateful for attorney general William Barr standing by religious liberty," said vice-president Mike Pence, himself a committed evangelical Christian.

Despite Trump’s diktat, early indications are that most churches this Memorial Day weekend continue to eschew in-church gatherings, most likely due to the health concerns of both church officials and congregants.

At Riverside First Church of God, the message from Pastor Harrell is clear. “We believe it is to our advantage to wait a little longer until people can feel safer coming together,” he says. The church will continue to offer drive-in services in the coming weeks.

Looking ahead to the full reopening, the pastor warns congregants of the challenges ahead.

Parishioners are “not going to want to hug you or touch you. There are going to be some people here that will be missing for quite a long time,” he says, but he warns people not to make judgments.

“Those people who are not in your corner, you’re going to have a tendency to dismiss him. But I’m just telling you, that’s not love, that’s not love,” he says, quoting St Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians.

And with a closing hymn and a final honk of the horns, the cars start revving their engines and head for the road. Until next Sunday.